


The Elusive Phantoms of Amity Park

by astridianmayfly



Series: Ectober 2019 [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Danny Phantom
Genre: CROSSOVER TIME BITCHES, Danny is a little shit, Ectober 2019 (Danny Phantom), I made this deadline by a minute tbh, Shane may or may not be a demon in this one, This is structured like a bfu ep, This is the fanfic that I'm the most geeked up about, ectober, ectober day 2, literally the timeline has gone to shit, multi-chaptered!!, nebulous timelines, that I wrote for ectober, these fanfic challenges are SO helpful for practice tbh, this one was an exercise in characterization and dialogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-01-04 06:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21192791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astridianmayfly/pseuds/astridianmayfly
Summary: “Laugh it up, dude. I know you’re about to say something stupid that involves claiming ghosts aren’t real.”“Actually, that’s seriously not it. I just can’t believe this place is called Amity Park. Did they name it after that little spooktastic house or was it just like, an ironic coincidence?”Ryan sighed, staring into the camera with deadened eyes. “Let’s get into it.”





	1. The Stalker

**Author's Note:**

> Ectober Day #2: Stalker

_ (ominous music)  _

_ (wolf howling) _

_ (thunder clapping) _

Ryan and Shane are sitting outside of a ramshackle house/building. It’s a brownstone with what looks like a flying saucer attached to the top, “FENTONWORKS” emblazoned loudly on the facade. 

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re venturing into a town of paranormal activity as part of our ongoing investigation into the question: Are ghosts real?”

The camera cuts to Shane, who definitively shakes his head  _ no. _

“For our season finale, we decided to dive into the workings of a town that could potentially provide the most evidence that we’ve ever caught on camera.” 

Shane snorted. 

Ryan rotated to face Shane. “Something you need to get off your chest?”

Shane let out a choked laugh.

“Laugh it up, dude. I know you’re about to say something stupid that involves claiming ghosts aren’t real.” 

“Actually, that’s seriously not it. I just can’t believe this place is called Amity Park. Did they name it after that little spooktastic house or was it just like, an ironic coincidence?” 

Ryan sighed, staring into the camera with deadened eyes. “Let’s get into it.” 

  
  


***

_ Amity Park, Illinois is your average small town in outward appearance. But if it was really just a regular suburb, we wouldn’t be talking about it today.  _

_ Specific places in the United States have been cited as “haunted,” but nowhere has earned this title as infamously as Amity Park. In a recent poll taken by the population  _ ** _over 95% believe in ghosts and 90% report seeing a ghost--_ ** _ full-body apparition style.  _

  
  


Have you ever considered the possibility of say--

mass delusion? 

I mean, I’m no expert. But come on-- 95%!! 

That is a  _ crazy _ percentage! The majority, the VAST 

majority of this place believes ghosts are real! 

Wouldn’t that be the “mass” part of 

“mass delusion?” 

You’re impossible! I mean-

\--It’s a town filled with a bunch of little Ryans!

(wheeze) Just shut up already, dude. 

This is evidence if I’ve ever seen it. I swear if I changed

the word “ghosts” to “horses” you would take it

as a legitimate fact.

Because horses ARE real! 

You’re missing the point!

Oh, oh--do you mean like, if someone were

to say anything except “ghosts?”

What else would I have meant?

Oh, yeah. Well, I might believe that.

Because ghosts aren’t real. 

\---------

_ According to its citizens, Amity Park has been estimated to always have been a place where the veil between dimensions is weak, but townsfolk unanimously agree that 2004 marked a sudden shift a shift in paranormal activity, in which it became particularly  _ ** _physically harmful._ ** _ _

_ Resident Ida Manson was quoted to say, “Ghost attacks, as they became known, happened at least twice a week: At the school, the park, the Nasty Burger, the streets--you name it! The ghosts weren’t just dead-ish people--they each had unique motivations, personalities, and agendas for world domination.”  _

World domination? 

These ghosts honestly sound like 

a rogues gallery from comic books.

Honestly, I wish I could say that 

I wasn’t skeptical of it myself. While it does

sound crazy, I’m mostly trying to give you perspective

on how Amity Park thinks about ghosts. 

Did they actually call their ghost 

sightings “ghost attacks?” 

That, and I’ve heard the word “invasion” thrown

around several times. 

(laughs) 

You done?

Ah (wheeze). Yes, I’m done. 

  
  


_ What turned a regular town into a paranormal hotspot for “ghostly” invasions? Surprisingly, this question is not as hard to answer as it may seem--as Jack and Maddie Fenton claim total responsibility for the spike in ghost activity, citing their own-made “ghost portal” as the reason for the bridge between dimensions. _

A GHOST PORTAL?? (wheeze) what??

(wheeze) Hear me out--

. 

_ (Offscreen laughter).  _

_ -Ryan turns to see what he swears is a small, shadowy figure in the corner of the set.- _

_ He blinks. It is gone.  _

Did you hear that? 

What were you saying about ghosts not being real?

_ tbc.... _


	2. The Investigation Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan turns to face Shane. “So this--” he gestures wildly to the building before them-- “is Jack and Maddie Fenton’s lab. FentonWorks.”
> 
> Shane looks to the gigantic neon sign and then back at Ryan, wide-eyed and mocking. “Really? I couldn’t tell!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We back, boogaras, shaniacs, and shitfish!

_ Jack and Maddie Fenton claim to be ectologists, studiers of a one-of-a-kind branch of science. The Fenton couple dedicates their life and research to the study of “posthumous conciousness,” or in other words, **ghosts.** _

_ The Fentons build inventions that serve to trap, detect, or repel the ghostly “enemies” that plague Amity Park, their hometown. Maddie sees their efforts towards ghost-protection as both a necessity and a responsibility. _

_ “When our ghost portal activated mysteriously two Septembers ago, we could have never anticipated the danger it would prove to be. Our newfound access to the Ghost Zone provided seemingly unlimited research opportunities. On the other hand, we are forced to deal with almost daily ghost attacks from ectoplasmic parasites that use our portal, when open, as an  _ ** _invitation to wreak havoc.”_ **

I-I’m speechless.

(laughs) it’s-it’s a lot to unpack-

-I’m taking the boxes off the shelves-

-you’re unpacking

I’m opening up the box--

alright

Peeling back the tape--

(wheeze) got it

Oh, what’s this? A load of horseshit?

Ok, ok (laughs) hear me out!

There’s nothing you could say right now 

to sell this to me!

I-I know that, but just, listen

Are you expecting me to believe these people 

have an inter-dimensional portal to the “ghost 

zone” in their BASEMENT? 

(wheeze) I get it, but I can at least appreciate

that the Fentons are trying to take a scientific 

approach to ghost-hunting. That, I can admire--

And I’m supposed to be impressed by--

they keep saying that, wh-what’s that thing?

“Ecto-” as in “ectoplasm?” What is this, 

_ Ghostbusters? _

_ (the camera cuts back to the front of FentonWorks, where Ryan and Shane are now standing up in front of) _

Ryan turns to face Shane. “So this--” he gestures wildly to the building before them-- “is Jack and Maddie Fenton’s lab, FentonWorks.”

Shane looks at Ryan, wide-eyed and mocking. “ _ Really? _ I couldn’t tell!” 

Ryan rolls his eyes. Shane eyes the flashy sign, scoffing.

“Seems like this place takes a campy approach to the whole ghost thing.”

Ryan adopts his usual beady-eyed stare.  _ (regular viewers will be able to tell that he’s already getting scared.) _ “I know, right?”

_ (there’s a quietness that descends on the pair. unusual, since Shane’s there. he never stops talking.) _

“We going in?”

Ryan shakes his head. “Not yet. The whole town is haunted, and we’ve gotta see that stuff, too. We’re going to North Mercy Hospital and the Nasty Burger before going inside  _ that  _ bad boy.” He points back up to FentonWorks.

“The  _ belly _ of the  _ beast _ ,” Shane says jovially. 

_ (a quiet laugh comes from somewhere.) _

Shane frowns.

“The belly of the beast,” Ryan repeats, more grimly than Shane.  _ (Ryan didn’t hear it.) _

Shane and Ryan begin to walk away, in the direction of town.

  
_ (a skipping shadow chases after them. maybe if Ryan had his spirit box out, he’d’ve heard it saying something along the lines of “Oh, this is going to be so fucking _ funny.” _ ) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> k this is a short chapter but I have to split it up like this for the following plot stuff, hopefully this satiates you all!
> 
> Thanks guys for a really awesome response to this fic! I hope you all continue to like it! Always love feedback--positive, negative, whatever!!!!


	3. The Nasty Burger (onscreen edition)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have to say..it is quite fun to discuss a ghost who uses his great power responsibly.
> 
> \---Like spider-man?
> 
> He’s dead, Ryan. Show some respect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oopsies rogue update

_ Amity Park is famous for its iconic assortment of ghostly characters. The ghosts that inhabit this little corner of Illinois are described as having their _ ** _ own distinct personalities and agendas. _ ** _ Somewhat of a phenomenon to Amity Park, the citizens even voted on their favorite ghosts in a recent poll. Among the most popular are “the Box Ghost,” “Skulker”, “Technus,” and “Ember McClain.”  _

That last one is a pop star.

No, she’s not.

I swear, she is? Some song on the radio recently, 

I think?

Lots of people have actually said that.

I wouldn’t dwell on it too much, 

‘cause the prevailing theory for 

that sort-of deja-vu-y sense is attributed to mind control.

I swear to god she had some hit recently…?

You’re probably thinking of Billie Eilish--

\---I know who Billie Eilish is--

_ Amity’s most iconic ghost goes by the name of  _ ** _Danny Phantom, _ ** _ a manifestation of a teenager. To the people of Amity Park, he is as much of a mystery to the people of Amity Park as he is an  _ ** _absolute phenomenon._ ** _ Residents tend to describe this ghostly character as more a  _ ** _superhero_ ** _ than a malevolent specter. _

_ Resident Paulina Sanchez describes Phantom as a “ghost boy” : a “friendly ghost” who supposedly saves the townspeople from the threats the other rogues pose.  _

A superhero ghost?!?!?

(wheeze) do you like the idea of a superhero ghost?

Well, like, ghosts can walk through walls,

disappear, and fly? Right? 

I guess

I have to say..it is quite fun

to discuss a ghost who uses his great power responsibly.

Like spider-man?

He’s dead, Ryan. Show some respect.

_ (a hand reaches from behind the camera to push open the door leading into Amity Park’s pride and joy--the local McDonald’s rip-off. Ryan and Shane surface from behind the camera, which follows them into the busy restaurant. every eye seems to be on them.) _

“Um, hello there,” Shane just about announces to the fast-food patrons. “We’re here for the Nasty Burgers?” 

( _ Ryan’s eye-roll is off-screen, but miraculously tangible. the watchers have turned their attention away, but the chatter has died somewhat. Ryan feels them sitting rimrod, perched on the edge of their booths. ready to flee at any moment.) _

  
  


_ (The camera cuts to a bird’s eye view of the food Ryan and Shane had likely just been served. Two burgers sit in place settings.) _

“Yeah, it’s the Phantom Burger,” describes a teenage Nasty employee. A moniker under her portrait identifies her as ‘Valerie Gray’. 

“That’s one big sandwich,” Ryan comments.

“‘bout as big as that Phantom kid’s ego. ” 

_ (offscreen, Ryan is taken aback. Shane snorts into his food. Valerie walks away.) _

“Seems like she’s....strong opinions…” Ryan chokes out. (u _ nclear if it’s because of the food in his throat or through his laughter.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stay tuned for the more plot-focused behind the scenes chapter 4 executive function is failing me and im a disaster


	4. The Nasty Burger (conversations)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How long does it take to send a tweet, Danny?” 
> 
> “Dunno.” Danny smiles. “I was playing with whether to release another ‘I’m baby’ tweet but then decided my stans would probably drag me for that. But if I added the pixie emojis it could be a different story. What do y’all think?”
> 
> Tucker blinks. “I’m getting an internship at Twitter for the specific purpose of banning your Phantom account.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *clenches fists* i am NOT a quitter

Tucker looks over his shoulder to witness one of the two guys who’d just waltzed into the Nasty Burger hacking on what must’ve been a sesame seed. When Tucker sees Valerie sashay away from their booth, he can only  _ imagine  _ the priceless interaction he just missed. 

He nearly slaps Sam in his bout of hilarity, who is giving her fat-free meat-free fun-free sandwich her full attention. Danny’s looking at his phone, completely oblivious. Tucker’s shoulders begin to shake with barely-contained laughter. That  _ look  _ on Valerie’s  _ face... _

He coughs to hide his snickers. Valerie passes by their table and glares. 

No response from his apathetic friends, still. “Guys, for real. What if I was  _ choking  _ and needed the Heimlich?”

Sam puts down the sandwich (victory!) “That was a  _ sputter _ , Tucker. Valerie passed by the table. You were choking on your feelings, not a fishbone.”

“What? No!”

Danny finally puts his phone down. “What’s up?”

Sam rolls her eyes and picks up her disgusting sandwich again. “How long does it take to send a tweet, Danny?” 

“Dunno.” Danny smiles. “I was playing with whether to release another ‘I’m baby’ tweet but then decided my stans would probably drag me for that. But if I added the pixie emojis it could be a different story. What do y’all think?”

Tucker blinks. “I’m getting an internship at Twitter for the specific purpose of banning your Phantom account.” 

“Can you not already do that?” 

“I mean… I  _ could _ . But I’d rather do it through them for defamation purposes. CNN isn’t allowed to use my name, and word of a ‘twitter intern’ banning you would make it sound like there was a group of people out there against Phantom.”

Danny leans against his hand, already channeling melodrama. “God, I wonder what it would be like to have a group of people who dedicated time and resources to hating and hunting me.”

Sam subtly juts her chin towards the booth behind Tucker and lowers her voice to a whisper. “Speak of the devil--or devils-- twelve o’ clock.”

Tucker doesn’t want to keep staring, but he peeps quickly. The hunters look a bit more conspiratorial when he sees them a second time, hunched together and quieter. Their booth has the smaller one facing him, and he swears that their eyes meet for the fraction of a second when Tucker pays them a glance. He whips around, heart racing. 

Danny seems to register Tucker’s stricken expression, squinting and leaning to see the view behind him. Sam grabs Danny’s arm and yanks him back. 

“Ow! Sam, what the hell?”

Sam narrows her eyes at him. “Could you be any more  _ obvious? _ ”

\----

“Those kids, in that booth over there? They keep staring at us.”

Shane turns around. He doesn’t see any of their heads raised, but judging by their collective hunched stance he is sure Ryan had just caught them in the middle of something.

“Fans, you think?”

“No...they… I don’t know. They look scared shitless, for some reason.” Ryan pauses. “This town is pretty weird, and we’ve barely been here, like, two hours.” 

“We have a whole camera crew, Ryan. I, too, would wonder why two random people were being recorded in my hometown’s McDonald’s eating a shitty burger if I saw it go down.”

A silence falls between them.

“Man, am I glad we don’t have to eat this sandwich for the camera. I simply do not think I am suited to stomaching it today,” Shane says, setting said burger down. “Also? This wasn’t false advertising. It’s one nasty burger.”

“We’ll probably have to get footage of you saying exactly that, though. Especially the last part.”

“The part about the burger being nasty?”

“Yeah. It’ll be funny when I edit it.”

Shane nods in affirmation, and slowly brings the burger to his mouth. His eyes and mouth are exaggeratedly wide. 

Ryan laughs, and then everything happens at once.

  
  


\----

_ (a thump--) _

_ (a crash--) _

_ (--everyone in the camera’s view heads towards the exit in an orderly fashion. three teenagers run against the fray, towards the bathroom. pushing past the camera. there is the sound of glass shattering. the lense shakes. _

_ outside, the sky colors an ominous purple.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the idea for Danny having a popular twitter account comes from dippingdots's @realghostboy fic, which is the funniest shit ever if I do say so myself. Check it out!
> 
> This won't have consistent updates guys but I CAN promise I will finish it!!! Thank you so much for all of your comments and kudos, they keep me motivated!!


	5. The Nasty Burger (confrontations)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Have you ever been to the Rainforest Cafe?”
> 
> Ryan looks incredulously back at him. “Well, yeah, but--”
> 
> Shane sighs. “My point is, it really rains there! Sort of like a quaint little Disney World? To both terrify and amaze the youngsters.”
> 
> Ryan snorts. “I once had a tantrum in the Rainforest Cafe ‘cause it was really loud and I wanted to leave.”
> 
> “I find that hard to believe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EYYY update!!!

“Is it about to rain?”

_ (the camera faces Shane and Ryan, sitting in the vacated restaurant. Shane looks through the boothside window, staring at the sky. It flushes a pulsing violet, having been a dismal gray not five seconds prior.) _

Ryan stares at Shane. “Really? That’s what’s got you worried? Not the window breaking or literally the entire restaurant leaving?”

Shane shrugs, turning his gaze away from the window. “Oh, that? I think that’s just their thing.”

“What.”

_ (a large  _ thud  _ erupts from the ceiling about them, and Ryan and Shane both look up. _

_ what is going on?) _

“You know, their gimmick?” Shane motions around. 

“The window is  _ broken _ , Shane.”

“Have you ever been to the Rainforest Cafe?”

Ryan looks incredulously back at him. “Well, yeah, but--”

Shane sighs. “My point is, it really rains there! Sort of like a quaint little Disney World? To both terrify and amaze the youngsters.”

Ryan snorts. “I once had a tantrum in the Rainforest Cafe ‘cause it was really loud and I wanted to leave.”

“I find  _ that _ hard to believe.”

_ (the sky grows darker. Shane takes another bite of his burger. Ryan looks on in disgust.) _

*****

This was  _ not  _ good. 

Danny’s ghost account on Twitter? Harmless. While she first thought it was super irresponsible, Sam learned to see it as a journalistic tool. Danny’s videos and silly pictures were a way of telling the public what actually went down in Amity, ghost-wise. It wasn’t lost on Sam that the newsworthy stories of particularly destructive ghost attacks rarely traveled outside Amity’s border, and she had no doubt that the censorship of the Guys in White was to blame. 

Catching Danny on camera usually turned out fine; somehow in ghost form, his face showed up warped and blurry. The discovery took Danny through a rough panic attack, but it was something Sam was secretly grateful for--it meant to discern his identity, you would need to see him in person. And the white hair/neon green eyes thing was a second line of defense, Clark-Kent style, just in case someone running away from a ghost attack accidentally got too close. 

The real issue was the  _ transformation.  _ The whole flash-and-ring shebang would be something hard to deny by skeptics, especially since Ryan and Shane (fine, yes, she watched Buzzfeed Unsolved) weren’t ghost hunters that exaggerated supernatural phenomenon or edited their footage. 

Danny would be revealed to the entire world, and there would be no guarantee that that wouldn’t lead to being dragged into a cage. 

That is why, when the restaurant-goers leave their tables, Sam grabs Danny’s arm and drags him into the meat-smelling kitchen. He can’t afford to be careless this time. Tucker follows them to the back, trailing close behind.

“Who is it?” she asks. Danny’s ghost sense had developed to get a better idea of who, exactly, was attacking. 

Danny transforms and then rolls his eyes. “Lunch Lady. Figures. Must’ve heard about the fucking Phantom Burger, of all things.” He mutters something that sounds like “change the menu  _ my ass. _ ”

“Take her far away from the restaurant, Danny,” Sam instructs. “You sure you don’t need backup on this one?”

“It’s the Lunch Lady, Sam. Piece of cake.” Sam rolls her eyes at the pun as he takes off through the roof.

Tucker laughs. “Do you think she’s actually here about the Phantom Burger? Because that would be  _ great.” _

“ _ Priorities _ , Tucker.”

“Priorities?”

“Yes, priorities! Look--” she opened the kitchen door a crack, pointing insistently to the ghost hunters and their two-person camera crew, seated in the middle of the empty restaurant. She hadn’t cared about the crew before, as they’d seemed unengaged, but they were filming again and had their camera lens trained on Ryan and Shane’s conversation.

“Those two might share one collective brain cell, but sooner or later they’re going to realize that something’s up.” A huge  _ thud  _ on the roof punctuates her point. 

Sure enough, the noise sends both of their gazes skyward. Sam groans internally. 

“We have to do damage control.” She spots a thermos on the floor and sighs. “Actually,  _ you _ have to do damage control.”

Tucker follows her line of sight. “He forgot the thermos again?” 

“I got it, Tuck. Just make sure they stay distracted.”

***

“In my defense, it was really scary as a five-year-old.”

“Sure, but--”

_ (a loud CRASH echoes through the restaurant, reverberating from the rooftop. the wind howls outside Ryan stands up.) _

“Ok. I’m going to check that out.”

_ (for once, Shane agrees--they probably don’t need to be here in the event of a hurricane or whatever this is. probably a tornado. Illinois isn’t on the coast.) _

_ (just then, a kid bursts from the kitchen double-doors at the back of the restaurant, looking frazzled. he’s probably an employee, by the looks of it. he stares at Ryan and Shane for a minute, and then waves.) _

“Uh, sorry! Just some, uh, construction up top?”

_ (what the fuck, thinks Ryan.) _

“Construction? On the roof?” Ryan raises his eyebrows. “So should we leave or something?”

“No! I mean, uh, everyone else is taking a look at it, that’s all. But it’s really not all that. Up there.”

_ (what the fuck, thinks Shane.) _

“A look at what?” Shane asks. Ryan looks back and forth between Shane and the kid. 

“A... satellite.”

“A satellite.” Shane repeats. The kid nods. 

“You know Starbucks, with their app? That’s what we’re making. But we’re not a chain, so we just connect all the orders back to this location.” 

“You need a satellite for that?”

“What are you, thirty?”

Ryan and Shane make eye contact.

“I mean, do  _ you _ even know how technology works? No? Apps aren’t as high-tech in Illinois.”

_ (Ryan stares at the kid’s iPhone 11.) _

“Nice chatting with you, but I have some more work to do….on the roof! So yeah, uh, bye!”

_ (he scurries away, with a glance at the window behind Ryan and Shane. Ryan turns around and looks outside once more. _

_ the sky is a regular silver.) _

Shane starts to laugh. “Did we get that on camera?”

Ryan allows himself a smile. “I think so. Have to blur his face, but that was… hilarious.”

Shane turns around. “Oh hey, the storm is over!”

“I guess it is,” Ryan says, narrowing his eyes at the window. 

***

Tucker turns back into the kitchen. Yikes--he’s not the best liar, but that was some of his worst-- 

_ “Foley!” _

Tucker whips around. His jaw drops.

There’s Danny on the floor, human and unconscious, a smoking wound on his left arm. His hand clutches the Fenton thermos, thankfully sealed. 

There’s Valerie standing over him, work uniform still on, Red Huntress ensemble nowhere in sight, staring down at Danny’s crumpled form.

She looks up at Tucker, visibly seething, visibly crying. 

Tucker swallows. Tears race down Valerie’s cheeks. 

“You have... s-some explaining to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how is everything going guys? I loved getting this chapter out!!
> 
> i finished all my college-related standardized testing so now it's all applications from here! Super excited about that because (as evidenced) I quite enjoy writing. so it's kind of chill atm!
> 
> see y'all next time :) I love your feedback!


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